Thelma Shelton Robinson

Thelma's goal is to do what elders in her family and neighborhood have always taught her, to "keep on keeping on". For Thelma this happens through poetic storytelling, a natural extension of herself. Thelma is a 74-year-old African American woman born and raised in South Philadelphia, her gift for storytelling was passed on to her through her father, a master storyteller. After 34 years of service with the City of Philadelphia, she retired and began pursuing her love of poetry and storytelling. Through poetic rhyme she tells stories about Black history in Philadelphia-ranging from stories about the injustice of Corrine Sykes' trial to the boycott of Tasty-Kake products led by Black ministers to the story of the first Black men to drive trolleys-at venues like the Afro-American Museum, Painted Bride Art Center, and Robin's Bookstore. These stories stand as significant pieces of history, many of which are not well known. Following many of her storytelling performances, Thelma is approached by other elders who share their own 'back-in-the-day' stories, and in this "story swap" her work as a storyteller and its importance in community is validated. Emphasizing the importance of learning from the past, her stories illustrate the old African truth symbolized by a Sankofa bird that is looking back over its shoulder, proving that "you cannot know where you are going, if you do not know where you've been".